Wound and surgical dressings are often used to treat, cover and protect wounds and surgical incisions. Wound and surgical dressings come in various forms. For example, for simple cuts, adhesive bandages are typically used. Cotton gauze is also commonly used to cover wounds and surgical incisions. For more serious wounds and surgical incisions, the wound or surgical dressing may include multiple layers of fibrous material with a fluid impervious layer or back sheet to prevent exudates from seeping through the dressing.
Typically, medicaments are often manually applied to the wound or surgical dressing before positioning on a wound or surgical incision. A medicament is a medicinal substance or agent. The medicaments may comprise, for instance, an antimicrobial agent or antibiotic agent to encourage healing. Antiseptics are also commonly applied to prevent infection.
Many medicaments applied to wound or surgical dressings transfer into the wound or surgical incision. Unfortunately, certain individuals may be allergic to many common medicaments, such as antibiotics. Furthermore, there has recently been a push in the medical community to avoid excessive use of antibiotics so as to eliminate the risk that certain bacteria may become resistant to such medications.
As such, a need currently exists for a wound or surgical dressing that removes or prevents the growth of microorganisms, such as bacteria, without leaving substantial amounts of chemicals in the wound or on the surface of the skin. A need also exists for a method of controlling bacterial populations in and around wounds or surgical sites that does not create a risk that the bacteria may develop antimicrobial resistance.